jueves, 23 de agosto de 2012

Hacienda - Shakedown

I’ve had Hacienda’s new LP for a couple of months now and to be honest, I wasn’t feeling it on the first few spins. I recently revisited it as I was scrolling though my iPod, mostly because I like the guys so much. I felt like I owed it to them. Thankfully their good nature won out because now I’m in love with it.

Shakedown finds the San Antonio quartet working with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys for the third time. And just as Auerbach has been picking up some new ideas and sounds from past collaborations with Danger Mouse, Hacienda has broadened their sound as well. That’s what threw me off on the first few spins. There were areas that I found a little too polished, but once I starting paying attention, I realized I was missing the cool nuances and tones that Auerbach had instilled in this album.

After digging into Shakedown, there were a couple of things that really stuck out to me. The tones that Auerbach pulls out of the rhythm section are sublime. They vary from funky to distorted to soulful. After producing their first two albums and backing his solo tour, Hacienda are obviously quite comfortable taking some sage advice from Auerbach. The other thing that really tickled my fancy were the backing vocals. They really bring something to tracks like Let Me Go, Natural Life and Veronica.

So after three great albums with Dan Auerbach, where does Hacienda go from here? I love that each album shows Hacienda trying out new tricks while staying true to their roots. Obviously Auerbach has been instrumental in this, but I really would like to see the boys step out on their own, even for one album. Maybe see things from a different point of view. Either way, I’m sure whatever lies ahead will be awesome.